Roleplaying Game Systems

[owenmp]

There are three RPG systems currently available that provide good simulations of Mad Max action.


d20 Apocalypse from Wizards of the Coast, released a few years ago, includes the Tire Slasher mounted on the Cobra Truck in Mad Max 2 and rules for salvaging items from ruins.

Wizards of the Coast: d20 Apocalypse
http://ww2.wizards.com/Company/Products ... =880460000


The supplement Road Warriors for the old Deadlands: Hell on Earth setting also had fast-moving automotive mayhem.

Classic Deadlands Hell on Earth
http://www.peginc.com/games
http://www.smithandrobards.com/index.php?cPath=23


Redline from Fantasy Flight Games has fast-moving vehicle combat rules.

Fantasy Flight Games: Redline
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/hr01.html


Francis Greenaway, the Car Wars fan I mentioned earlier, has developed a roleplaying system for Dark Future based on Redline. The modifications to Redline are described on Francis's Web site.

Future Highways / Highwayman: Dark Future Roleplaying
http://www.fluency.paintedtarget.org/df/
http://www.fluency.paintedtarget.org/df ... index.html

[HUMVEE Driver]

owenmp,
I've been working on driving rules for D20 for a while now. I took a look at the D20 Modern rules, the Dark Future rules, and a few other D20 systems and none of them seem that realistic to me. The ramming rules, especially, just don't fit to me. I think each vehicle should be almost like a character. With their own strengths and weaknesses. My rules have each major component of a vehicle having its own hit points and hardness, while possibly being protected by the vehicle's body panels/bumpers/armor for additional hardness. So each component can be targeted individually (higher AC), or an attacker can just 'get a shot off' at a car and hope to hit something vital (random roll, possibly hitting nothing important at all). A vehicle has a 'character sheet' to keep track of all of this. Different modifiers and ACs apply whether you are ramming or shooting, notably a vehicle weight modifier for when you ram someone. Also, you can destroy, say the steering/suspention, a radiator, or a tire, and not instantly disable the vehicle, they just accumulate more and more negative Drive check modifiers until they crash or the engine overheats or whatever.

The trick is making the rules easy to use while still detailed enough to be realistic. I'd be interested to know what you think.

HUMVEE Driver

[ArmySyko]

Evening All,

I was thinking about taking the RoleMaster modern system and tooling it for the setting. You could take a mixture of the modern rules and the SpaceMaster rules and probably come up with something that works. The "10,000 Ways to Die" would be nearly the only resource that you would need for the weapons and SpaceMaster would give the rules for vehicles. I haven't looked at it much but I may try to go in that direction. Anyone tried already?

[owenmp]

With the "total destruction" of the game on August 31st, the Auto Assault Strategy Guide from Brady Games can now be acquired for a fraction of its original $20 cost. The book is full of useful information on salvage and building weapons that can easily be imported into d20 Apocalypse and other RPGs. I found my new copy of the book on Amazon.com. If you want to run a Mad Max campaign, the book will give you great ideas for scavenging vehicular kills and ruins.

[MFP1]

I used to play a game called "Aftermath" long ago with the same guys I played Gamma World and Car Wars with. They ordered it from an ad in an OLD Dragon mag.

I think it was from Steve jackson games, but not sure. Looking for a copy to look over again and possibly add to the arsenel.

Ill have to look at the D20 and Rolemaster rules you guys have mentioned. It would probably put the ancient GW/CarWars hybrid I made to use for my own "Mad Max" campagins back in the late 80's to shame! Heck I was a crazy kid ok, it was the best I could do!

[nfpgasmask]

Hey, I have this old copy of Dragon magazine here (bought it on eBay to read the "Gord The Rogue" story) and I ran across an old ad for "Aftermath". Here is a scan:



Obviously, this game was MM inspired.

Bart

[UncleDrax]

Hey, I have this old copy of Dragon magazine here (bought it on eBay to read the "Gord The Rogue" story) and I ran across an old ad for "Aftermath". Here is a scan:

Obviously, this game was MM inspired.

Bart

I think it'd be hard to say any game made in the 80s -wasnt- max inspired :]

Actually at DCon, there's a guy that is still carring on the Aftermath! stuff (David Harner iirc?). Aftermath! probably has a good repentation for all the scavenging stuff, but I never looked at it's vehicle rules.

As for Vehicle rules, as HUMVEE said, it's one of the often neglected parts of most RPG systems (unless you're looking at Vehicle-focused games like Car Wars.

[SpringLeaf]

Hi I used to Play Steve Jackson's Car Wars, a quarter of a century ago
And I should still have some, Auto Duel Quarterly issues stacked somewhere If interested.

BTW, nice ThreeZero Avatar nfpgasmask